South Korea, Thailand and Philippines are Asia’s biggest economic winners from a drop in oil prices, according to Bank of America Corp.A 10 percent decline in oil prices means gross domestic product growth of 45 basis points in both South Korea and Thailand, economists including Chua Hak Bin and Lee Jaewoo wrote in a Dec. 1 report on the region’s 2015 outlook, which excludes Japan. The Philippines gets a 30 basis point boost while Malaysia ― as an oil exporting country ― is the sole loser among

Dec. 2, 2014

South Korea seeks to reduce its use of energy by 4.1 percent from its business-as-usual level in 2017, which will help it cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the government said Tuesday.Under a new five-year plan ― from 2013-2017 ― the government will seek to keep the annual growth of the country’s total energy use under 1 percent, which will help reduce the country’s overall use of energy to 218.2 billion tons of oil equivalents (TOEs) from the anticipated BAU level of 227.5 billion TOEs, accordi

Dec. 2, 2014

The economic think tank for the lobbying group of South Korea’s big businesses on Tuesday called on the government to streamline corporate restructuring rules to reflect global trends.According to a report by the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) under the Federation of Korean Industries, the government needs to provide more options for companies who have to implement corporate restructuring efforts, especially since more and more companies are facing difficult times.It said policymakers

Dec. 2, 2014

South Korea's consumer prices grew at the slowest pace in nine months in November, renewing worries the country might be entering a phase of deflation, a government report showed Tuesday.The country's consumer price index rose 1 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing from October's 1.2 percent gain, according to the report by Statistics Korea. This marked the lowest rise since March.From a month earlier, the price index also inched down 0.2 percent, the third straight month that it has

Dec. 2, 2014

Foreign investors turned into net buyers of South Korean stocks in November, ending their two-month selling streak, as central banks from major economies such as Japan and China stepped up their monetary easing measures, data showed on Monday.Overseas investors bought 1.8 trillion won ($1.62 billion) worth of local shares last month, a turnaround from the 2 trillion won net sell-off in October and the 600 billion won net selling in September, according to the data compiled by the Korea Exchange.

Dec. 1, 2014

Lee Eun-hee, a 35-year-old lawyer, lives in a studio on busy Tehran Street in the posh Gangnam district, a 15-minute walk from her office. She takes ukulele lessons and exercises at a nearby fitness center two or three times a week. In August, she treated her retired parents to a two-month-long trip to Europe.Lee belongs to the “gold miss” group, a growing number of single women in their 30s or older who have enough money from high-paying jobs to live comfortably.Such women have caught the atten

Dec. 1, 2014

South Korea's finance minister called the newly-launched won-yuan trading market a start-up with "high potential" on Monday, promising to provide necessary support for its successful operation.South Korea held a ceremony earlier in the day to mark the launch of the won-yuan trading market at the headquarters of Korea Exchange Bank in central Seoul. The market, which opens at 9 a.m. and closes at 3 p.m. every business day, is expected to help reduce overall exchange costs in exchanging between th

Dec. 1, 2014

Heads of South Korea’s leading economic think tanks predicted Sunday the country will have a hard time pulling off growth reaching the upper 3 percent range in 2015 mainly due to weak domestic consumption and sluggish export conditions.The leading economists said in a poll that the South Korean economy will be weighed down by expectations of interest rates going up in the United States, a slowdown of growth in China and India, and deflation concerns in Japan and the eurozone.Such conditions will

Nov. 30, 2014

South Korean companies' average wage increased 8.2 percent in 2014 from a year earlier due mainly to a change in the calculation of salary, a poll showed Sunday.The survey on 369 companies that concluded this year's wage and collective bargaining agreement talks, revealed a rise in salaries that outpaced the average 4 percent gains tallied in 2013.The Korea Employers Federation (KEF), which took the survey, said the spike comes mainly because many of the companies accepted the Supreme Court's ru

Nov. 30, 2014

Heads of South Korea's leading economic think tanks predicted Sunday the country will have a hard time pulling off growth reaching the upper 3 percent range in 2015 mainly due to weak domestic consumption and sluggish export conditions.The leading economists said in a poll that the South Korean economy will be weighed down by expectations of interest rates going up in the United States, slowing down of growth in China and India, and deflation concerns in Japan and the eurozone.Such conditions wi

Nov. 30, 2014

South Korea plans to launch a market for direct trading of its currency with China's yuan this week, officials said Sunday, a move that could facilitate trade based on their currencies and reduce their dependence on the U.S. dollar.The won-yuan direct trading market is scheduled to open at 9 a.m. on Monday, following last week's test run of a transaction system, according to the finance ministry and the Bank of Korea.Like the won-dollar market, the new market opens at 9.a.m. and closes at 3 p.m.

Nov. 30, 2014

A new round of negotiations for a regional free trade agreement, known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), will be held in India this week, the South Korean government said Sunday.The sixth round of RCEP talks will be held from Monday through Friday in India's Greater Noida, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The ministry said the participating countries are expected to discuss the level of market liberalization for products, service and investment."Al

Nov. 30, 2014

South Korea's manufacturing sector and exports are locked is a systemic crisis with companies bracing for uncertain times in the new year, a poll showed Sunday.The survey on the country's 600 largest companies in terms of sales showed 81.6 percent of firms believed economic conditions have deteriorated to serious levels, according to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI).In contrast, only 17.8 percent said the current situation is a temporary development brought on by various external change

Nov. 30, 2014

South Korea's overall trade volume has reached over US$1 trillion as of Friday for four straight years, setting course for a record high for the country's annual trade volume, the trade ministry said.As of 1:07 p.m., the country's total exports came to $520.17 billion with imports coming to $479.83 billion, an official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy told Yonhap."The country has continued to top the $1 trillion mark since 2011, but it had never done so before the start of Decembe

Nov. 28, 2014

Share turnover for Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, jumped as investors acted on the announcements of affiliates sale and a stock buyback plan, accounting for a significant portion of trading in the local stock market, data showed Friday.Samsung Group announced on Wednesday it will sell defense and chemical affiliates for 1.9 trillion won (US$1.72 billion) to shed non-core businesses. After the market closing on the same day, Samsung Electronics Co., the group's flagship unit,

Nov. 28, 2014

The amount of credit card spending by foreigners in Korea outweighed that by Koreans on overseas trips for the first time, central bank data showed Friday.Credit card spending by foreigners reached US$3.27 billion in the third quarter, up 12.2 percent from three months earlier. In the same period, credit card spending by Koreans on overseas trips rose 7.6 percent on-quarter to $3.2 billion, according to the data by the Bank of Korea.It marked the first time that credit card spending by foreigner

Nov. 28, 2014